Tuesday, November 23, 2010

The 49ers will see a defense Wednesday at Oregon State that gave them all kinds of problems Sunday in a loss against Coastal Carolina in the fifth-place game of the Charleston Classic.

The Beavers like to play a 1-3-1 zone, which is what the Chanticleers threw at Charlotte late in the first half after the 49ers had built a double-digit lead. That slowed things down enough to help Coastal eventually win 79-75 in double overtime.

But it's not as if the 1-3-1 zone has helped the Beavers too much. They're 1-2 and have lost to Seattle and Texas Southern.

-- Oregon State's coach is Craig Robinson the brother-in-law of President Barack Obama. Oregon State has five true freshmen, two red-shirt freshmen and three sophomores on its roster. The Beavers are led by senior forward Omari Johnson, who had a double-double against Seattle. Another Beavers senior, guard Calvin Haynes, needs eight points to hit the 1,000-point mark for his career.

-- Charlotte's An'Juan Wilderness has tried just three 3-pointers this season. The one he made tied the game at 68-68 against Coastal Carolina and helped send it into double overtime.

-- Walk-on Colby Lewis has taken advantage of Charlotte's depth problems in the backcourt. He's averaging 11.2 minutes and has made 3-of-11 3 pointers.

We are better than Oregon State, we just need to attack the basket, don't let up. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Niners out front early only to see it get a lot closer at the end, but I'm hoping we really take it to them and win big.Also, our 3 point shooting has been atrocious this season.